Your Excellency, I bring you good tidings. I wantto thank you for this generous gesture of yourswhich has made it possible for me to breathethe air of freedom again, and to reunite withmy family, especially my wife Hafsat, who haddwelt in her own prison throughout myincarceration.

I decided to write you this letter the very firstday I learnt that you had made up your mind toset me free. That was weeks before my eventualrelease. I know some of my words will soundunpalatable; but I am a soldier in whosesquadron flattery is hardly a virtue. Obviously,this freedom makes me happy indeed but yourmotive, at least the perceived it, tore my heartto shreds. I heard it is all about 2015, and notthat I was unfairly incarcerated or that a courtof competent jurisdiction had acquitted me.

However, I maintain even now that I aminnocent of the crimes I was accused of andcondemned to death for. I am not the only oneto rise from the dead. Your wife, Patience, alsodied and returned, remember?

I am scandalized by the political undertone inthe broth of my freedom. I was once the mostpowerful military officer in this country butnow, from what I gather, you have reduced meto a pawn on the chessboard of politics? In thepast, generals paid me compliments; but timechanges everything.

Mr President Sir, please permit me to call youby your pet-name Jona. I understand thateverything you do these days has 2015imprimatur, but bringing me into the realms ofpolitics is not a wise idea.

Let me refresh your memory a little, if youwould let me. I was incarcerated in connectionwith the murder of Mrs Kudirat Abiola. Ofcourse just as your popular picture as politicianwho is respected among his neighbours inOtuoke sticks on you like glue, my reputation asa daredevil and fearless intelligence officerprecedes me. My creation, the Strike Force, isthe deadliest Abuja, has ever known. Oh, I amso proud of its accomplishments. Strike Forcemade a snake in a garden shudder in fearduring our time. Some even said that we had acrocodile pond into which we threwuncooperative people, usually NADECOmembers or stubborn journalists. But I canassure you no one has pointed out the pondsince we left power.

You see, I do not know how many books youhave read Jona; but I have even memorised theHoly Qur’an. As a Muslim, it fortified my beliefthat in spite of the desire of those who wantedme dead, I would be free; may be not as quicklyas I was discharged and acquitted butobviously anytime soon.

Why did you release me Jona? Almost all ofthose who learnt of my release that fatefulFriday morning hung my freedom on 2015.They say you are obsessed with it and that youwould unchain the devil himself to realize yourgoal. But I am what the Americans call a goon,you know? I know nothing but soldiering.

Forget my grandstanding at the Oputa Panel. Itwas military strategy. I knew in my militarywisdom that a million SANs would not free meif I did not take my destiny in my own hands,with facts and warts. Lawless people don’tchange overnight. Without any prejudice to thelawyers in this country, Jona, I can say withoutfear of contradiction that my tactics hit a chord,with and I believe that is why I am here. Butmark you Jona, I Al Mustapha, have no politicalvalue in my region, the north, which you aretrying to reach out to but which you have alsooffended in no small measure.

Northerners will hardy forget how you ignoredthe Boko Haram insurgency until it got out ofhand. Unofficial sources claim that close to800,000 people, most of them northerners, losttheir lives and property worth billionsdestroyed by the insurgents. The insurgencyhas resulted in northerners losing theirpositions in the armed forces; mediocrity nowreigns. To me as a former Chief Security Officer,your initial inaction depicted a total loss ofcontrol. You were a lame duck, even in yourfirst term. So what’s all this elaborateorchestration for 2015?

But don’t mind my position, Jona. Time ondeath row has taken the winds off my brains.Never mind Yerima Ngama, your minister ofstate for finance, who told people that mysharp reasoning still amazes him. Ngama is nota psychiatrist. He probably never paid anyattention to my behaviour while I marked timein Kirikiri. I had been confused. Sometimes, Igreeted people with a clenched fist; while someother times, I smiled, like General Gowon does.At other times, I saluted in military fashion.

You would have noticed too, Jona, that mychoices since coming out are dangerouslyflawed. I greeted everyone in sight: TB Joshua,Fashehun, Otokoto, Ganiyu Adams and Tokyo,to mention a few of them. I make no distinctionbetween the living and the dead, just like I havenot adjusted to life outside prison. I evensought Abiola out only to learn that he isdeceased. In that miasma, I paid first homageto the Kano Sate Government instead of mypeople in Yobe. It would have served me just aswell if I had driven straight to Gashua andshook hands with Shekau!

Mr President, I am saying all these becausepersonally I know that where the north isconcerned, I am a political paper tiger. LikeLarry Hagman of the famous soap Dallas, I amthe man that people love to hate. I lack thepolitical value you ascribe to me, and if youreleased me to score a political point in myregion, you have only taken a fool’s gambit. ButI’m sorry; I can’t help your 2015 dream.